As we get
ready for Enterprise Connect it’s important to remember you’ll see nothing
revolutionary, nothing breathtaking and certainly nothing you can’t live
without. You’ll see the tiny steps of evolution (or God’s infinite hand, if “evolve”
is a problem). Even the Gaylord Palms has
evolved since VoiceCom began its unmoving settlement with updated pools and new
sushi and sports bars all while maintaining their infamously awful internet
connectivity.
Here’s a
smattering of what visitors will see and dilettantes will miss.
Marketing Hyperbole
Every trade
show it’s the same , hundreds of manufacturers screaming “pick me.” Here are a few of my favourites.
Any,
Any, Any
The latest evolution masquerading as revolution
is the word “any.” The slide below is
from the year 2000 and mentions “any” seven times on the slide. One wouldn’t think you could get any more “any”
than that, but here we are 13 years later hailing BYOD and social media as revolutionary
when they’re just another “any.” The
only surprise on this slide is recalling that Aspect was once considered the “Starting
Point” of “any” thing.
Solutions,
Solutions, Solutions
Consider that all manufacturers make
silos and that for decades have been telling the market (and themselves) they’ve
evolved into a holistic, customer-embracing “solution” fount. It’s always been a smokescreen. Makers care about interconnectivity as long
as it cuts out competitors, generates revenue and doesn’t eat into profits. Need
an antique command-line driven application connected? Cha-ching to the professional services
team. But don’t feel used, customers use
makers in much the same way.
Microsoft Lync is a silo that connects
to other Microsoft silos like Office, SharePoint and Exchange. It doesn’t
connect to applications it deems competitive like salesforce.com. Ditto for Avaya, Cisco and every other
supplier an organization has. Do you really believe a unicorn makes Cisco
networking gear uniquely suited for Communications Manager? No, Cisco is just
less interested in your business without the pull-through of the rest of the high-margin
kingdom.
To go completely off-topic, I’m loving
seeing Cisco and Microsoft go at it.
Both have spent decades building their cults of certified followers and
now finally the Narnian battle is ready to begin. Which will prevail only to be crushed by the
next big thing in 10 years? If Cisco helped cripple Nortel, is Microsoft helping to cripple Avaya?
Savings,
Savings, Savings
Every salesperson in every booth at
every trade show shouts how much money you’ll save if you buy their
solution/silo. And while salespeople selling savings are as old as time (which depending
on your intelligence is either 6,000 years or a few billion) it’s usually only
true under very few, and sometimes scientifically controlled, circumstances.
That said, if you’re employing legions of uniformed messengers to hand-deliver
written notes between your staff, chances are instant messaging will save you a
few dollars on salaries and shoe leather over time.
Selling Your Soul for a Chance to win an
iPad (mini)
I suspect
there are more fishbowls with business cards and Hershey’s kisses in them than
fish. Exhibitors too cheap to purchase a
badge scanner usually resort to the “fishbowl lottery” to win some piece of hot
tech. Attendees must decide whether the resulting
unending phone solicitations are worth the chance to win. My advice is to buy a bag of M&Ms and
avoid the fishbowl.
But it is
worthwhile to keep track of the prizes.
Do you really want to do business with someone who can only muster a
Kindle Paperwhite versus a Kindle Fire HD or an iPod nano versus an iPad? No, I didn’t think so. (Hard candy versus
chocolate goes without saying)
And finally…
Be sure to
attend the keynotes. If Enterprise
Connect would just move to Las Vegas, we could legally bet on which keynoter will
get fired or quit in the coming year! As it is, you’ll just have to bet among
your friends.
